John O’Donnell

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service has recently prepared three useful fact sheets in regards to reducing wildfire risks, hazardous fuels and improving forest resilience.

The fact sheet Treating Hazardous Fuels at a Scale That Makes a Difference is very good.

The fact sheet notes that “Periodic fire is a natural disturbance that helps keep forests and grasslands healthy. For more than a century, fire has been excluded across U.S. forests and grasslands, leading to a build-up of fuels across landscapes and denser and more expansive forests than before European colonization”.

Further on, the document notes, “Studies consistently find that thinning followed by prescribed fire has the most dramatic impact on fire behavior. However, this effect may be diminished when done at small scales or where high winds and landscape features can increase the spread and intensity of a fire regardless of local fuel conditions. Thinning followed by prescribed fire has positive impacts on other aspects of forest health as well, such as improving tree growth rates and enhancing resistance to disturbances such as drought, insects, and diseases”.

Another useful USDA Forest Service Fact Sheet is Management is Management to Improve Forest Resilience and Reduce Wildfire Risk.

This fact sheet outlines examples of where tree densities and forest biomass have changed throughout the past few centuries.

The fact sheet notes that “Using fire in a safe, controlled manner is key to restoring America’s forests and grasslands. This includes planned prescribed fire and letting wildfires burn in certain situations to achieve management objectives, termed managed fire.

Forest Service scientists and partners gather and synthesize current knowledge to provide managers with easy, go-to resources that interpret the latest and most effective management techniques” and further resources are given.

Another useful USDA Forest Service fact sheet is Reducing the Risk of Severe Wildfire Across Boundaries. 

The fact sheet notes that Forest Service scientists collaborate with diverse teams across the country to integrate tested forest management strategies with local knowledge and community priorities. In addition, the Forest Service provides several resources that inform the public about fire risks and prepare them for blazes. An example of this is Wildfire Risk to Communities, this is a free, easy-to-use website with interactive maps, charts, and resources to help communities understand, explore, and reduce wildfire risk.

In the USA, there is a good awareness of reducing wildfire risks, hazardous fuels and improving forest resilience across forests and changes in openness of forests since fire suppression became the focus.  There is improved funding to reduce fuel loads, undertake prescribed burning, forest thinning and community protection in an extensive approach, especially close to wildland urban interfaces. There is active community involvement in fire management and this will increase.  Forest Service partners include Firewise, local fire safe councils, the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, and the Ready, Set, Go! Program.  Optimising forest health and resilience is being actually considered and addressed.  Indian burning practices are being considered and addressed.

These documents are valuable reading for those involved in land and fire management in Australia. Noting the different vegetation types to Australia, it is suggested that there are a number of potential lessons from the US that could be adapted for Australian land and bushfire management, including increasing community involvement in fire risk reduction, reducing hazardous fuels, improving forest health and resilience and reducing wildfire risks.

About John O’Donnell

John is a retired district forester and environmental manager for hydro-electric construction and road construction projects.   His main interests are mild maintenance burning of forests, trying to change the culture of massive fuel loads in our forests setting up large bushfires, establishing healthy and safe landscapes, fire fighter safety, as well as town and city bushfire safety.